The field of error correcting codes is a vast subject that is explored by both the mathematical community and the engineering community. In this chapter we have only touched upon a select handful of the concepts of this field. There are many other areas of error correcting codes that we have not discussed.

Perhaps most notable of these is the study of convolutional codes. In this chapter we have entirely focused on block codes, where typically the data are segmented into blocks of a fixed length $k$ and mapped into codewords of a fixed length $n$. However, in many applications, the data are produced in a continuous fashion, and it is better to map the stream of data into a stream of coded symbols. For example, such codes have the advantage of not requiring the delay needed to observe an entire block of symbols before encoding or decoding. A good analogy is that block codes are the coding theory analogue of block ciphers, while convolutional codes are the analogue of stream ciphers.

Another topic that is very important in the study of error correcting codes is that of efficient decoding. In the case of linear codes, we presented syndrome decoding, which is more efficient than performing a search for the nearest codeword. However, for large linear codes, syndrome decoding is still too inefficient to be practical. When BCH and Reed-Solomon codes were introduced, the decoding schemes that were originally presented were impractical for decoding more than a few errors. Later, Berlekamp and Massey provided an efficient approach to decoding BCH and Reed-Solomon codes. There is still a lot of research being done on this topic. We direct the reader to the books [Lin-Costello], [Wicker], [Gallager], and [Berlekamp] for further discussion on the subject of decoding.

We have also focused entirely on bit or symbol errors. However, in modern computer networks, the types of errors that occur are not simply bit or symbol errors but also the complete loss of segments of data. For example, on the Internet, data are transferred over the network in chunks called packets. Due to congestion at various locations on the network, such as routers and switches, packets might be dropped and never reach their intended recipient. In this case, the recipient might notify the sender, requesting a packet to be resent. Protocols such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) provide mechanisms for retransmitting lost packets.

When performing cryptography, it is critical to use a combination of many different types of error control techniques to assure reliable delivery of encrypted messages; otherwise, the receiver might not be able to decrypt the messages that were sent.

Finally, we mention that coding theory has strong connections with various problems in mathematics such as finding dense packings of high-dimensional spheres. For more on this, see [Thompson].